1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image pickup apparatus, an image combination method, and a computer program and, more particularly, is suitable for use for correctings a defect of a pixel of an image pickup element.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an image pickup apparatus in the related art, a pixel defect of an image pickup element is corrected as follows. First, pixel defect information such as position information and the like of a defective pixel in the image pickup element is inspected just before a shipping of a product, and the pixel defect information is stored every product of the image pickup apparatus. By a dedicated correction circuit equipped for the image pickup apparatus, a processing for suppressing that a damage which causes a pixel defect stands out is executed to an image which is formed by the image pickup apparatus.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-242103 discloses a method whereby position information of a defective pixel is stored every operation mode such as still image shooting mode, live view mode (monitor mode), or the like and the pixel defect is corrected in each operation mode by using the position information of each defective pixel.
In the image pickup apparatus, such a vibration correction or multiple exposure that after a plurality of images are image picked up and a position adjustment is performed, obtained images are combined is executed. In the case of combining the images as mentioned above, there is such a problem that when the images are superimposed, such fine pixel defects that no problem will occur in a single image is accumulated and the pixel defects become conspicuous as a damage.
However, according to the related art disclosed in the above patent literature, in the case of combining a plurality of images by shifting (matching) the positions thereof, a damage which became conspicuous due to coincidence of the positions of the fine pixel cannot be corrected.